Representative Scott Talley met with SAM’s Executive Director (Right: John Stockwell) to review data influencing current legislation being reviewed in the SC Senate.
There is great momentum in South Carolina to use legislative power to improve our statewide educational system. We have been working with legislators on several issues and bills currently under review.
While there are many important topics to rally behind, SAM has brought forth four points that specifically tied to our data validated local research and action. It is important to note that highlighting these four does not exclude other areas of advocacy the SAM staff and Board deem valuable, but limits the scope of our legislative briefing to the issues for which we can provide data validation. This extended explanation of SAM’s advocacy focus is summarized in a downloadable single page Advocacy Brief and Expanded Advocacy Brief.
SAM staff welcome the opportunity to discuss these and other points of advocacy to improve the South Carolina educational system in support of improved outcomes for children, cradle to career. Please contact us by phone or email to set up an appointment to review collaborative advocacy action.
Each of SAM’s 2019-2020 Legislative Priorities are listed below with additional background/detail provided.
1. We advocate for the passage of Senate Bill 291, creating the Department of Early Development and Education.
Rationale: S.291 draws together currently funded but diffuse and non-aligned State and federal early childhood programs/initiatives into a single agency with two divisions (Early Health and Wellness, and Early Care and Education). Such an agency can assure the alignment of resources consistent with best practices on behalf of early childhood development, prenatal to kindergarten.
Problem/Solution: Years ago, in a farsighted move, South Carolina inaugurated “First Steps” with offices established and funded in each count, charged to support early childhood development across the State. Whether through “First Steps” or an alternative structure, this bill is the missing piece of the puzzle that can provide the mandate, the muscle, the resources, and the strategies to support the early development education and health of our children. Passage of S.291 and alignment of resources and responsibilities presently scattered across multiple agencies can position South Carolina as a national leader in early childhood development and education.
Cost Neutral: this measure is built upon the realignment of existing resources.
2. We advocate moving from the legislatively mandated KRA (Kindergarten Readiness Assessment)
to the EDI (Early Development Instrument).
Rationale: A paradigm shift is required in our understanding of why we measure school readiness.
Problem: The purpose of school readiness assessment has been confused with the State’s emphasis on reading instruction. Kindergarten teachers do not need a standardized school readiness assessment to begin work with their students. By the time teachers receive results of the KRA, they have already created and begun executing a plan for educating their students based upon their professional assessment of the strengths and vulnerabilities each has brought with them. The near universal perception among these professionals is that the KRA is a cumbersome waste of time and resources. The purpose of readiness assessment should be to benefit the communities and the many early childhood partners that actually have the ability to influence readiness before children get to kindergarten.
Solution: SAM employs the EDI across Spartanburg County. This assessment relies on a kindergarten teacher’s knowledge of a child after having had him/her in class for several weeks. Unlike the KRA, it does not take time away from those early days of kindergarten experience. And unlike the KRA, it does not attempt to tell the teacher what s/he already knows by virtue of experience and professional training. Rather, it tells the “community,” and – importantly, given passage of S.291 – it can tell an implementing agency (“First Steps” or other) where vulnerabilities exist, census tract by census tract across the State and its counties, providing real data-driven guidance to the strategies and interventions that can make the difference from year to year in kindergarten readiness.
Related Advocacy: The passage of S.291 provides the channel through which State financial and programmatic resources can be invested where the greatest needs exist. The EDI provides the mechanism for assessing impact and effectiveness into the process of providing support for improved kindergarten readiness Statewide.
Cost Saving: given SAM’s experience with the EDI and the cost estimates provided us for expansion statewide, the State will realize a savings. Further, the EDI need not be undertaken yearly; rather, every other or every third year, given the impact cycle of pre-natal to 5K interventions.
3. We advocate moving “Community Block Grant” work into CERDEP Policy.
Premise: Through the Community Block Grant for Education, Spartanburg County has successfully incorporated our “Quality Counts” initiative as a vital part of our public 4K classrooms. SAM has partnered with schools by writing grants that, over the last four years, have enabled nearly 30+ classrooms – mostly CERDEP eligible – to implement quality improvement plans, assessed by evidence-based teacher/child interaction measures.
Problem/Solution: Currently, there is no provision in CERDEP funding for measuring the quality of 4K Programs. The numbers of classrooms, the at-risk population reach, and literacy-based student growth are measured. Through our Community Block Grant Work, we have demonstrated the need for evidence-based teacher/child interaction measures to assess both quality and process improvement within 4K classrooms. Using the ECERS-3 tool, pre-implementation scores on a 7-point scale have ranged from 1.5-2.5 on most classroom domains (e.g., space and furnishings, personal care routines, language and literacy, learning activities, interactions, program structure). After our work on quality improvement plans, classrooms are now scoring 4’s and 5’s in these categories.
At minimum, we strongly urge that the CERDEP program require an annual assessment of classroom quality utilizing a tool such as ECERS-3 (or similar teacher-child interaction/quality measure), providing funding for CERDEP programs to do so. In addition, resources should be provided for program staff to make available coaching and professional development to 4K teachers directed toward improving measures of classroom quality.
Related Advocacy: The passage of S.291 provides an extraordinary channel to systematically undertake, with a clear strategic purpose, this quality assessment of 4K and professional development work.
Cost: SAM and its partner schools/districts, have had multi-year access to Community Block Grant funding, largely because all CERDEP funding has not been employed from year to year. This initiative would take systematic advantage of currently unused funding, though requiring some supplement. Each classroom assessment has costs approximately $400 for the ECERS-3, plus the provision of highly trained early childhood best practice experts providing coaching and professional development. As we are now doing in Spartanburg County, the implementing agency for S.291 could be charged and effectively equipped to carry out this 4K support through the passage of S.291.
4. We advocate moving from the “College Freshman Report” to the National Student Clearinghouse “Student Tracker.”
Rationale: The “College Freshman Report” (CFR) is woefully lacking in accurate and useful information about high school graduates and requires hours of work by guidance counselors that would be more effectively used to meet student needs and improve graduation/college readiness rates.
The Problem: The CFR, as outlined in code Section 59-101-130, requires an incredible amount of time from over-taxed guidance departments. Its completion, which occurs nearly a year after high school students have graduated, relies largely on high school seniors’ self-reported intentions to enroll in post-secondary education, some of whom do not follow through, calling into question the validity of the report results to meet its intended purpose. The often inaccurate and thus invalid report is, however, used in school accreditation evaluations, putting schools at risk through inaccurate data.
Example: In Spartanburg County there is a 20-percentage point gap between those who say they are going to enroll in post-secondary programs and those who actually enroll as verified by the Student Tracker.
Professional guidance counselors’ time can be better used in improving the data rather than collecting and reporting on data that has proven fallacies.
Solution: Eliminate the CFR and employ the federal National Student Clearinghouse “Student Tracker” to accurately understand where high school graduates have enrolled after high school, whether in-state or out-of-state, in public or private institutions, or across technical or two-year and four-year programs. This fulfills the goal of reporting student matriculation patterns and provides a functional tool for high school counselors to determine and implement supports needed to ensure that students are prepared for college and improve post-secondary matriculation rates.
Solution details: Every post-secondary provider in the nation (public/private/technical, etc.) must report student-level enrollment data to the NCS if they receive any federal funding of any kind (resulting in participation of more than 95% of all institutions). Unlike the CFR, “Student Tracker” reports by multiple demographic categories and tracks students’ continuing (non) enrollment, and completion for eight years following high school, regardless of attendance location. “Student Tracker” provides a tool that builds capacity for guidance offices rather than taking away from it. The strength of the data produced enables understanding of opportunities for building post-secondary readiness, thus becoming a tool for focusing the efforts of guidance counselors toward goals that can be tracked for continuous improvement. Student Tracker Report adds post-secondary persistence and completion outcome data never before captured systematically across South Carolina.
Cost: Multiple reports are provided for each high school as well as an aggregate report to the appropriate agency. SAM maintains a consortium account with the NCS Student Tracker on behalf of all Spartanburg County high schools, at per-high school funding of $425 each. The NCS has provided SAM with an estimate of state-wide costs for the Student Tracker in the neighborhood of $50,000+/- annually. Undoubtedly, this would represent a substantial statewide savings given the costs and time lost in the ineffective, misleading, and error-filled CFR. “Student Tracker” is a more effective and efficient means to meet the need to understand post-secondary matriculation patterns of students across South Carolina.
John Stockwell reviews key data related to early grades reading outcomes with Representative Rita Allison. Allison has maintained close contact with SAM team members to move legislation forward in support of better outcomes for children across SC.
The Spartanburg Academic Movement (SAM) is a collaborative action partnership aligning school districts together with corporate, non-profit and community agencies across Spartanburg County in a data-driven commitment to equitable academic achievement, cradle to career. SAM’s commitment to data validated action focuses the scope of our advocacy in areas demonstrating such validation grounded in research and successful implementation in Spartanburg County, SC.